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Published: October 17th 2007
Day 7 - Sunday 7th October
The train from Ayuthaya to Chiang Mai takes 13 hours and even though we had booked a second class sleeper train I can only have got about 2 hours sleep all night. The bed was really comfy but the noise was deafening and I had ear plugs.
After arriving we managed to book ourselves into a really cheap guest house that although basic is a good standard and just 200 B each (1 pound 50) a night. Bargain.
After catching up on lost sleep all afternoon it was time to explore the nearby bars and watch the football. We soon realised why our accommodation was so cheap it seems we are staying in the red light part of town. All the bars are empty apart from about half a dozen Thai girls all shouting for you to come in. Usually back home if you were ever to find a bar full of girls you would be straight in but we found ourselves searching for a bar full of blokes instead as apparently 20% of the girls who work in the bars here have HIV. Strange how things are different over here.
After finding one had a quiet evening watching the Liverpool v Tottenham game.
Day 8 - Monday 8th October
Had a good lie in today and caught up on my sleep. After Bangkok and Ayuthaya i'm starting to get bored of temples so didn't bother doing any sightseeing. Instead I booked myself on a 3 day jungle trip. Reading a few blogs on the internet it sounds like great fun, the only downside are the big spiders most people seem to encounter, not looking forward to them.
As we had a big day coming up the evening was spent playing pool in one of the bars. Even though I cant remember playing for at least 3 years, I still managed to thrash Russ 5-1.
Day 9 - Tuesday 9th October
After being picked up at the guest house we met the rest of the group that we would be spending the next 3 days with. There were 2 Spanish couples (early 30's), a Danish couple (early 20's) and 3 20 yr old Blonde Danish girls. Hopefully I'll be able to practice my Spanish and have a great time as well.
First stop was the
Cooking Dinner
Mum dont moan about your kitchen ever againlocal police station where we had to give our details and say where we were going incase we don't make it back. After that and a 2 hr drive later we found ourselves at a waterfall and a chance to cool off.
Lunch and another drive later we found ourselves at the hot springs. Natural hot springs have been converted into a couple of swimming pools. The first was so hot though that it took a full 5 mins just to be able to submerge my feet. Luckily the second pool was much cooler.
Its hard to describe the feeling but sitting there peacefully in the middle of the jungle watching a white miss roll up the hillside felt like worlds apart from my life back in the UK. Back there at that exact moment I would have been stuck in the office stressing about Magnitude. I think it's going to be hard to go back to work after this trip.
It was then time for the hiking to begin. It had started to rain, which after initially cursing, I was grateful for half an hour later as it was very hard work with the humidity. Just before
Dinner
Hmmm rat lovely nightfall we reached the village tribe that we would be staying with (population 50). We would be staying in a stilted wooden hut and our bed was the wooden fall. It goes dark here at 6pm so after dinner there was nothing to do but chat amongst ourselves in the candlelight. Strangely I found myself talking to the 2 Spanish couples learning new Spanish words rather than the Danish girls. Somewhere in the last 2 years I've got old.
I noticed everyone else was drinking coke or water so they could save themselves for the big day ahead tomorrow. However guessing that the floor would be uncomfortable and there are all sorts of creepy crawlies just yards from us, Russ and I took the other approach and got blind drunk. I even ate one of the local chilies as nobody else would try it and my god it was hot. Five minutes later my eyes and nose was still running. This led the guides to call me Chile boy for the rest of the trip. (As Russ has a skinhead he was nicknamed Budha boy)
Just before going to bed I noticed that the sky was teaming with
Village Tribe
Our home for the night stars. Living in Manchester I'd only ever see a couple of stars in the sky here there were millions.
Day 10 - Wednesday 10 October
Apart from being woken by a cockerel at about 4am had a great sleep. Speaking to the rest of the group it seems nobody else got more than a couple of hours sleep and were extremely tired. I bet tonight everybody will take my approach and get wasted.
After breakfast we set out on our 12k trek through the jungle until lunch. The first hour was slow going as we were under constant attack from leeches and had to keep knocking them off us.
A short while in the Danish girls gave an almighty scream and came running past me. Ahead a snake had just jumped out at them. I had stopped to get a leech out of my shoe so were were now seperated from the rest of the group. With the girls refusing to go any further and no sign of the guides it was up to me to face the snake. I've watched on the discovery channel that snakes are scared of humans and stamping your feet will
usually scare them away. So off down the path I went stamping my feet as loud as possible. So did it work did it bollocks. The snake was lying there right in the middle of the path. It was about 35-40 cm in length and a pure lime green colour. I had no idea if it was poisonous or not (we had been warned that there were some poisonous snakes in the area), but I wasn't about to take any chances so out came the machete and I hit it as hard as I could chopping it clean in two.
The trekking was murderously hard work and I regretted giving the gym a miss a few weeks before I set out, one of the Danish girls was even sick from exhaustion so 5 hours later it was with great relief that I collapsed by the river for lunch. I can see now why the Americans lost the Vietnam war.
After lunch the elephants turned up. It was there turn to do the hard work as we had an hours ride to tonights base camp. It was great fun but a little more uncomfortable than I thought at times
Comrades
The rest of the gang it even felt like we were on a rollercoaster and we were holding on for dear life.
That evening we bought a pig from the village which they killed and cooked for us. This time everybody was drinking and it wasn't long before the drinking games started. We were even given a bottle of the local moonshine whisky made from rice. Which although tasted strong wasn't that bad.
We were just about to go to bed, when all the blokes were asked by the village elder to join him for a smoke of the local produce. Now although I don't smoke to have refused in the circumstances would have caused great offense. Something I didn't want to do considering it was midnight and we were stuck in the jungle miles from civilization. I'm not sure what it was but judging by the fact we weren't allowed to take any photos of the occasion, I suspect it may not have been legal. One of the other guys said it was opium but I have no idea. Whatever it was it was very calming and relaxing. A truly great day.
Day 11 - Thursday 11 October
Todays adventure
Bathroom
Not quite the Hilton but better than Glastonbury was to take a 3 hr bamboo raft down the river. Our raft consisted of 16 Bamboo poles strapped together, whilst the girls got to sit down and enjoy the ride, us boys had to steer the raft using 5m bamboo poles gondola style. After splitting into two rafts I got the Spanish whilst Russ got lucky with the Danes we were off. After 20 mins I was the first to fall in but to my defense I was at the very back of the raft (the hardest place to stand).
It was so quiet drifting down the river with the only sounds that off the crickets, birds and whatever else was living in the jungle. When we finally finished my hands were covered in blisters, I had a big cut all the way down the sole of my foot and my feet were sunburnt. But it was still great fun and I'd recommend it to everybody and didn't see a single spider on the entire trip.
After a 2 hour drive back to the guesthouse Russ and I set off in search of Burger King. After 3 days of living in the jungle we wanted some western
Trekking
Watch out for those pesky leeches food. After an hour we gave up searching and settled on an Irish pub instead. Heaven.
Later that evening we joined one of the Spanish couples for some drinks and got loads of info on where to visit in Argentina later next year.
Day 12 - Friday 12 October
Decided to have a bit of a rest today after the jungle and recover. Although we'd planned on getting a Thai massage this morning with my feet still sunburnt I gave it a miss.
That evening we went to watch a Thai boxing fight and ended up with front row seats for just over a fiver.. Although the fights were good there were no knockouts so I was a little disappointed.
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